By Our Reporter
The Supreme Court has issued two controversial verdicts on the case of controversial man Ajey Raj Sumargee in a gap of a fortnight, suggesting rampant corruption in the judiciary.
A bench of Justice Deepak Raj Joshi on December 25 allowed Sumargee to take out 7.5 million US dollars from the Investment Bank. Nepal Rastra Bank had not allowed Sumargee to take out the money deposited in the name of Muktishree Cement citing that Sumargee failed to produce the source of the money.
But on December 25, Justice Joshi, who has earned bad name for issuing controversial verdicts, let Sumargee to take out the money through an interim order.
After the verdict, Sumargee was found to have shifted all 7.5 million dollars to other banks.
On January 8, a bench of Chief Justice CholendraShumsher Ran and Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattaraiissued another order preventing the bank from letting Sumargee draw the same money. The order said that the dollar should be kept intact as it was before December 25, 2018.
After the second verdict, the Nepal Investment Bank has initiated a process to bring the dollar back. Nepal Rastra Bank had instructed Nepal Investment Bank to bring back the money.
The bank officials are hopeful that they would be able to trace the dollars and bring it back in the bank, citing that the dollar was still in Nepal.
However, it may not be easy to implement the SC verdict citing several reasons, with the political nexus of Sumargee being the major. He has close relations with Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the CPN chair, and the government could try to give protection to him.
However, the biggest revelation made by the verdict is the corrupt nature of Justice Joshi. He had reportedly made several controversial verdicts after he was denied the post of Chief Justice.